Sintering apparatus



April '14, 1925. 1,533,108

J. E. GREENAWALT S INTERI NG APPARATUS Filed March 21, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Mew.

April 14, 1925. 7 1,533,108

J. E. GREENAWALT SINTERING APPARATUS.

Filed March 21, 1923 4 sheets' -sh eet 2 m k K A ril 14, 1925.

J. E. GREENAWALT SINTERING APPARATUS Filed March 21, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 April 14, 1925.

J. E. GREENAWALT SINTERING APPARATUS Filed March 21, a 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 mew Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

. 1,533,108 PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. GREENAWALT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

' SINTERING APPARATUS.

Application filed March 21, 1928. Serial No. 626,667.

To all whom it may conccrn:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. GREENA- WALT, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sintering Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to improv ments in sintering apparatus ,of the intermittent type, and is directed more particularly to the igniting hood of the apparatus, being an improvement over that shown in .my United States Patent No. 1,110,623,

dated Sept. 15, 1914. In the patent just referred to the igniting hood, after being I moved over the sintering pan, is bodily lowered to e gage the top edge of the pan. In the present application the hood is provlded with a sealing frame which is lowered to seal the joint of the hood with the pan instead of' lowering the entire hood. It is far more efiicient and economical to move the sealing frame instead of the hood, since the former weighs only a few hundred pounds against several tons for the hood in large installations. The present invention possesses other advantages which will be better apparent from a detailed description of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure v1 is a top plan of my improved igniting hood with the perimetrical seallng frame mounted on it, and in raised lplosition; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the cod with part of. the samein section; Fig. 3 is an end elevation with a part of the hood shown in section; Fig. 4 is a plan view of half the hood' frame'witlt the sealing frame mounted thereon; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 4 showing the lowered position of the sealing frame in dotted outline: Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional detail on the line 66 of Fig.- 4: Figures 7, 8, and 9 are cross-sectional details on the lines 7-7, 88, and 99, of Fig. 5 respectively; Fig. 10 is an enlarged side elevation and section combined, of the coupling means between the air supply main and the air pipe on the hood.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the top edge of a sintering pan which is well known in the art, and which is described in detail in my patent No. 1,110,623 before referred to, and 2 represents the surface of the material in the pan that is to be sintered.

It is essential that the surface of the material be ignited over its entire area, for which purpose anigniting hood His provided, said hood being mounted on wheels 3 adapted to ride on tracks 4 disposed adjacent the sides of the pan (or pans). The hood is formed by side channel walls 5, 5, and end channel walls 6, 6 bolted together at the corners by bolts 7, and roof R, the assembly of side and end walls constituting the hood frame. The roof Rfof the hood is supported by a series of I-beams 9, extending from one side wall 5 to the other to which they are bolted, and the end roof plates 10, extending across each end, are bolted directly' to end I-beams 9 by bolts 11, there being spacing pieces 12.between the roof plates 10 and I-beams. The intermediate I-beams 9 carry roof supporting members 13 which are secured to the I-be-ams by bolts 14 and spacing pieces 15. i

As will be seen in Fig. 2, the end roof plates 10 and the roof-supporting members 13 are shouldered to receive the flange of roof'plates 16,.17, and 18. which rest on them.- The roof plates 16 are provided with peep holes a, the roof plates 17 are iinpractically air-tight connection. It is desirable that no air enter the hood during the ignition of the material in the pan, ex cept through the air holes 0-in roof plates 18.

An oil burner 19 is disposed in the opening 0 of each roof plate 18, said burner being provided with a flange 20 near its upper end, said flange being bolted to angle iron supports 21 which are in turn secured to the. adjacent roof-supporting I-beams 9. The cap 22 of the burner is connected through suitablepiping 23 to the air supply line 24 and is connected to the oil tank 25 by suitable piping 26. The oil is fed to the burner under a suitable pressure maintained in the oil tank, said pressure being supplied by the pipe 27 leading from an air tank 27 The details of the burner 19 need not be here described as the burner is made the subject of a separate application filed herewith Ser. No. 626,669. Suffice it to say, however, that the mixture of oil and air is discharged from the periphery of the distributing cap 28 as a fine spray or circular sheet, and on igniting spreads a sheet of is a steam coil 30 for preheating the oil.

The piping 23 for conducting the ,air to the burner 19 is connected by means of stufling boxes 31, 31 to an oscillatable pipe section 32 having an arm 33 carrying counterweights 34 on the inner end, and an elbow 35 provided with a coupling flange 36 at the end of a short piece of pipe 37 at the outer end. There is a similar coupling flange 38 at the outlet end of the air line 24, and when the flanges 36 and 38 are brought together they may be locked by means of the latches 39, 39 pivotally connected between cars 40, 40, and'4l, 41 of a ring 42 supported loosely on studs 43 secured in the lower flange 38 at diametrically opposite points. The cars 41, 41 are far enough apart to receive the cam 44, of cam lever 45, the cam being bifurcated to receive one of the latches 39, and a pin '46 traverses slots 8 in the ears 41, 41 and holes in the cam and latch. Now, when the burners are to besupplied with air for ignition, the coupling flanges'3'6hnd 38 are brought together, the latches 39 are lifted up so as to bear on the flange 36, the cam lever raised to the position shown, whereupon the cam 44 forces its latch downward and the lever ring 42 upward, the pin 46 moving down in'the slots .9 and the cam bearing against the ring between the ears. The ring is provided with bosses 47 on diametrically opposite sides for engaging the under side of the lower flange 38 and forcing it into intimate contact with the upper flange 38 which is being pulled down by the latches.

By referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the bottom of the hood H is a little above the top of the pan 1 (about one inch clearance required in moving the hood from one pan to another) leaving a space that must be closed practically air-tight for the proper functioning of the hood. A sealingframe F is provided for this purpose said frame consisting of side members 50, 50 and end members 51, 51 (the side and end members each being made in two pieces) bolted together at the corners 52. The side mem- 5-3 bers 5, 5 and end members. 6, 6 of the hood are channel-shaped in cross-section with the upper wall of the channel longer than the lower, and the side membcrsare each provided with a series of ribs 53, 54, 55, 56 extending between the walls of the channel, from each end to the middle, where the upper wall of the channel 'is widened tocarry. a bearing. bracket 57. There are four smaller brackets 58 about equally spaced along each member 5 and on a line inside of the bracket 57. Bea-ring brackets 59 are positioned between the two pairs of brackets 58, for carrying the axles 60 of wheels 3 on which the hood H is carried. Ribs 55, 55 are L-shaped, there being a right-angle notch n at the bottom and a flange m at the top of the ribs, the purpose of the notches n being to receive the sealing frame as we shall presently see. The end members 6, 6 of the hood frame are also provided with two spaced L-shapcd ribs 62, eachhaving a rightangled notch n at the bottom and a'flange m at the. top; Guide members 63 and 64 are bolted to the flanges m and m, said guide members extending downwardly -to opposite the bottom of the side members 5 and end members 6 respectively, the notches nand it thus forming spaces between the Side and end frame members and the guides. The object of these spaces is to receive the side members 50 and end members 51" of the sealing frame F, said members being of right-angled. cross-section and each' having two pairs of ribs 65 so spaced along their length that when the sealing frame is assembled and disposed around the hood between the ribs 55 of the side members and guides 63, and ribs 62 of end members and guides 64, said pairs of ribs 65 will bear against the respective guides. At the same time the vertical legs of the sealing frame will bear against the faces f of ribs 55 and faces f of ribs 62. The notches n and n'are deep enough to receive the full width of the sealing frame when it is raised, at which time the bottom edge of the frame F is level with the bottom edge of the hood frame. The manner of supporting and moving the seal ing frame is as follows: i I

A rock shaft 65' is mounted in the bearings 57, 57 and just inside each bearing is a I by a lever 71 keyed on one end of the shaft, all the bell-crank levers 68, 69 on both sides of the hood frame will be rocked so as to depress their horizontal arms. to the ends of which are connected links 72 which pass the rock shaft 65' in the proper direction through slots .00 in the hood side members 5, 5 and are connected on their lower ends by eyebolts 73 to the side members 50, 50 of the sealing frame F. And, obviously, the

depressing of the'horizontal arms of the bell-crank levers permits the. sealing frame F to descenduntil it rests squarely on the upper edge 1 of the sintering pan, sealing the same against the admission of air *between the hood and the pan. In order that .side the levers 66, 66, and a latch 7 6 is pivoted to an I-beam 9 opposite the lever 71,

- said latch being adapted to engage the upper edge of the lever when it is'lowered, thus preventingthe sealing frame F from accidentally descending.

The operation of the apparatus may be briefly described as follows:

Assuming that in Fig. 2 the material in the pan 1 has already been ignited, and the sealing frame F raised. The hood H is then wheeled to the next pan, and when squarely over the pan the lever 71 is released from the latch 76 and the sealing frame F per mitted to descend onto the upper edge of. the pan 1. The valves controlling the oil and air supply to the burner 19 are then opened and on igniting the inflammable spray from the distributing cap 28, immediately the hood is filled with a sheet of flame which ignites the charge of material in the pan evenly over its entire surface. After the material is thoroughly ignited the valves are closed, extinguishing the flame, (except for a small pilot light if desired) after which the lever 71 is rocked down wardly' thus raising the sealing frame through the link and bellcrank connections, and the sealing frame held in its raised position by the engagement of the lever by the latch 76. The hood may now be wheeled to the next pan, and so on.

Features shown but not described are well known in the art, or already shown and described in my patent aforesaid, except the burner which is made the subject of a separate application as heretofore mentioned. The invention is also susceptible to modification in the hands of a skilled mechanic, and I do not wish to be understood as restricting the same to the precise features-shown and described. Infact, so far as I am aware, an

igniting hood of the character describedprovided with a sealing frame is basically new.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with a support for the material to be treated, of a hood adapted to be disposed over and spaced from said.

support, and means mounted on the hood for sealing the space between the hood and support against the influx of atmospheric air currents and means for moving the sealing means into and out of engagement with the support.

2. In combination with a vessel holding a charge to be treated, a hood adapted to be supported over the charge in spaced relation with said vessel, means carried by the hood for sealing the space between the hood and thevessel, and means for removing said sealing means from the vessel While the hood is supported over the charge.

3. In combination with a vessel holding a charge to be treated, a hood adapted to be placed over the charge in spaced relation with the vessel, a sealing frame disposed around the margins of said hood and in contact therewith, guides on the hood for the sealing frame, and means for moving said sel.

4'. In combination with a vessel holding a charge to be treated, a hood adapted to be placed over the charge in spaced relation with the vessel, a sealing frame disposed around the margins of the hoodand in contact therewith, supporting members for the sealing frame carried by the hood, and means for raising and lowering said supporting members simultaneously.

5. In combination with a vessel holding a charge to be treated, a hood adapted to be placed over the charge in spaced relation with the vessel, a sealing frame disposed around the margins of said hood in contact therewith and in contact with the vessel, guides .on the hood for the sealing frame, a-

roek shaft mounted on the hood, suitableconnections between the sealing frame and the rock shaft whereby the sealin'g frame may be raised on rotating said shaft in a given direction, and-a counterbalance mounted on the shaft for the sealing frame.

6. In combination with a vessel holding a charge to be treated, a hood adapted to be placed over the charge in spaced relation with the vessel, said hood comprisin arectangular' frame and a roof supported thereby, guide members secured to the side and frame into and out of contact with the vesv end frame members in spaced relation therewith, a rectangular sealing frame disposed around the hood frame and confined between the respective members of said frame and the guides, a rock shaft mounted on the hood frame, a plurality of link and lever connections between said rock shaft and sealing frame for suspending said frame in place, a counter-balance mounted on the shaft for the sealing frame, a lever fixed on the rock shaft whereby the same may be rotated to raise the sealing frame, and means for holding the sealing frame in raised position, said sealing frame being adapted to move downwardly in contact with the vessel on releasing the holding means.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature. 

